Several providers of voice services over Internet Protocol, IP, offer chat and VoIP services, called chat/VoIP, in a dedicated or proprietary chat and VoIP communication environment. A user can register in such a proprietary chat/VoIP communication environment with an appropriate unique identity, ID, or “nickname”. When registered, the user has to download and install client software on his User Equipment, UE, which software is required and used to communicate with other registered users, called “buddies”, within that particular chat/VoIP communication environment. Often communication, chat and/or VoIP, within such chat/VoIP communication environment is free-of-charge, whereas communication with users in other communication environments operated by different chat/VoIP providers and providing similar chat/VoIP services or public telephony services can be more difficult, not free-of-charge, or not possible at all.
Chat/VoIP clients are designed for Personal Computers, PCs, which have a wired connection (often broadband) to the internet and for wireless or mobile UE, such as but not limited to portable computers or laptops, Personal Digital Assistant, PDA, terminals and mobile phones.
To communicate in different chat/VoIP communication environments operated by different chat/VoIP providers, the user may register separately in all these communication environments, to get a unique ID or nickname and appropriate client software and has to download and install additional proprietary client software on his UE.
When using chat/VoIP services (pre)installed or embedded at a mobile UE operating in a Radio Access Network, RAN, under control of a mobile network provider, the UE and the RAN select a data packet channel that provides a required Quality of Service, QoS, for conducting a voice call, for example. This, because the chat/VoIP client installed on the UE, called the UE chat/VoIP client, is an integral part of the UE, i.e. operating under the communication protocol supported by the UE and the RAN and has received sufficient “privileges” to support the required predefined QoS, i.e. operates in a privileged mode. The RAN may be a mobile network arranged for supporting Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, a General Packet Radio Service, GPRS, or a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, UMTS, for example. The mobile network provider maintains subscriptions of UEs for users of the RAN for accessing chat/VoIP communication services with an agreed or predefined QoS.
A chat/VoIP provider that provides chat/VoIP services in a chat/VoIP communication environment under control of the mobile network provider in a RAN with a privileged mode, either a proprietary or a standardized chat/VoIP client, is regarded as a privileged chat/VoIP provider, whereas other chat/VoIP providers cannot use the RAN with the same privileged mode.
When a chat/VoIP provider provides a proprietary UE chat/VoIP client that can be installed as an application on the UE, in addition to the (pre)installed or embedded UE chat/VoIP client, this proprietary UE chat/VOIP client however does not have special rights or privileges. This UE chat/VoIP client software runs in a “non-privileged” mode and gets IP-connectivity with only “best effort” quality, as the communication link over the RAN will not be selected on the basis of a defined QoS. It depends on the arrangement and availability of the RAN whether the “best effort” quality is enough for VoIP. When UMTS is available, for example, VoIP should be possible. Otherwise the transmission may not be suitable for VoIP. The user may notice a difference in quality of chat/VoIP communication sessions when using a chat/VoIP connection operated via a RAN with a guaranteed QoS compared to a chat/VoIP connection when using a RAN with only “best effort” quality.
A possible solution to this problem might be to have the UE vendor and the chat/VoIP provider agree that an additionally installed UE chat/VoIP client on the UE may also use like functions and privileges as provided to the already (pre)installed or embedded UE chat/VoIP client, such as selecting “privileged” communication facilities of the RAN providing a required QoS.
However, this solution requires that the UE chat/VoIP client software is trusted SoftWare, SW, for installing on the UE and operating with the RAN. Security-minded users might hesitate to install and deploy such proprietary UE chat/VoIP client software of chat/VoIP providers on their UE.
Moreover most or probably not all chat/VoIP providers will have their proprietary UE chat/VoIP client ported to all types of mobile phones. Such that not all proprietary chat/VoIP communication environments can be accessed by all mobile users, which hampers universal and effective use of the chat/VoIP services.